Stop Everything: The Single-Passenger, Car-Sized Autonomous Drone of the Future Is Here

Alexander Stoklosa

Jan 8, 2016

Ethan Miller / Getty Images; manufacturer

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Landing right in the middle of the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show was this Jetsons-like flying pod from Chinese company EHang. The battery-powered, eight-rotor contraption resembles those buzzy, annoying drones your neighbor’s kids keep flying into your yard, only it’s large enough to carry an entire human being. Oh, and it’s autonomous—making it sort of like an Amazon drone delivery vehicle for people.

Ethan Miller / Getty Images; manufacturer

The EHang 184, as it’s known, apparently has undergone real-life testing already. Take your pick for what the “184” in its name means; our bets are on the number of design iterations EHang has tried, or that perhaps 184 Chinese test pilots have laid down their lives in the eight-rotor device’s development. According to EHang, the 184 is the “safest, Eco-est and Smartest low altitude autonomous aerial vehicle, aiming on providing Medium-Short Distance communication and transportation solution.”

The vehicle measures 152.2 inches long (including the rotors), which is a few inches stubbier than a Honda Fit, but its width is even greater at 153.5 inches. From skid to rooftop, it stands 57 inches tall. When parked, the EHang’s rotor arms can fold up to reduce its footprint. Built mostly of carbon fiber and aluminum, the vehicle weighs 441 pounds empty. The eight motors combine for a total output of about 140 horsepower, and takeoff is achieved vertically; when cruising altitude is reached (the operating ceiling is 1640 feet), the 184 hums along at 62 mph before landing vertically at its destination. That destination had better be nearby, however, as the ’copter can hover for only 23 minutes before requiring two to four hours of recharging.

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Ethan Miller / Getty Images; manufacturer

There’s seating only for one, and the rider faces a 12-inch tablet computer that displays pertinent journey information such as speed, altitude, and navigation mapping. So how will this autonomous-flight thing work? EHang’s website claims that the 184 “is always connected online with the low-altitude command center,” meaning that while the vehicle will fly itself, it has a backup redundancy somewhere back on earth. Described as something of a low-altitude air-traffic control, each of these centers—EHang says it will build many—will handle the pods’ routing and perhaps even remotely initiate emergency maneuvers. After all, there appear to be no backup controls inside the 184 in case something goes wrong.

Worried about safety? Let EHang put your mind at ease: “During extreme weather condition, the command center will prohibit the AAV from take-off.” What if an issue crops up midflight? “Whenever there is an emergency, [the] passenger can instruct the system to land in the nearest possible area to ensure safety.” Likewise, if one of the eight rotors craps out midair, or “if any components malfunction or disconnect,” EHang says the aircraft will “immediately land in the nearest possible area to ensure safety.” It isn’t specified whether EHang considers a crash the same thing as a landing—hey, nowhere in the company’s press materials do they promise the landing will be smooth.

One limitation is that the ’copter can carry only 220 pounds worth of payload, a single passenger, and their luggage (and that luggage can’t be much bigger than a briefcase). That specification pretty much rules out the EHang’s future in the U.S.; it appears that our Big Gulp–sized population will still have to drive to McDonald’s. Perhaps that’s for the best.